Football: Warriors bounce back, roll past Keene

KEENE — The Winnacunnet High School football team didn't just stop its budding losing streak Friday.

Mike Zhe

KEENE — The Winnacunnet High School football team didn't just stop its budding losing streak Friday.

It stonewalled it.

The Warriors solidified their Division II playoff chances by coming across the state and stuffing first-place Keene, 29-6. They permitted the Blackbirds just 174 yards of offense and began taking control by scoring two quick touchdowns late in the first half.

"Hey, we came to play four quarters today," said two-way lineman Spencer Cutting, whose night included a sack. "We gave up that one score, which was unfortunate. We really wanted a shutout. But defense, all around, a very good game.

Winnacunnet coach Ron Auffant couldn't dispute that assessment, especially coming on the heels of back-to-back losses to Timberlane and Bishop Guertin that left the Warriors (7-2, 5-2 Division II) teetering a little too close to the brink.

"Defense was excellent," said Auffant. "We really focused on that this week. I actually spent more time this week on defense than offense. We spent very little time on offense. Defensively, we had to make a statement tonight."

Winnacunnet closes out the regular season at home against Merrimack next week. It currently sits in a four-way tie for second place, and owns the tiebreaker against Keene and Dover, but not Timberlane.

The Warriors finished with a 323-174 edge in yardage, and had to work for all of it, mostly on the ground. Brett Taylor (78 yards), Mike Trainor (56 yards) and quarterback Steve Cronan (66 yards) shared the load, and Cronan completed 6-of-13 passes for 110 yards.

On a chilly night in Cheshire County, the Warriors overcame what could have been a pair of costly errors to take a 15-0 lead into halftime.

On the game's third play from scrimmage, Cronan was sacked and fumbled, with Keene's Eric Haas recovering at the 36. But the threat was nullified by a defensive stand that ended with Mike Keane making an interception at his own 3.

Winnacunnet drove to the Keene 7 early in the second quarter. But Cronan and Ben Fee fumbled an exchange and the Blackbirds recovered.

The next two times down, they cashed in. Handed a short field after another defensive stand, Trainor capped a five-play, 41-yard drive by running it in from 10 yards out for a 7-0 lead.

It was 15-0 less than two minutes later. With great field position again after a short punt, Cronan didn't waste any time, throwing downfield to Matt Sullivan for a 37-yard scoring strike, and finding Sullivan again on the two-point conversion to make it 15-0.

"It's good to see how we responded, even after turnovers, which has been kind of killing us lately," said Cronan.

The Blackbirds (7-2, 5-2 Division II), held without a first down on their first four possessions, opened up their offense and took to the air on their last chance of the half. Sophomore Lucas Luopa (7-for-13, 94 yards) marched them down to the 4, but on fourth-and-goal linebacker Mitch Lapierre crashed through and sacked him for a loss.

"That was huge," said Auffant.

Cronan led scoring drives on his clubs first two possessions after the break, from 40 and 42 yards out. The first started after a wild Keene snap resulted in a fumble — recovered by Christian Dyer — and a 29-yard loss. Taylor ran it in from 3 yards out eight plays later to make it 22-0.

After the Blackbirds were stopped on downs, the Warriors drove 42 yards on six plays, with Cronan keeping it from 9 yards out.

"If you told me I'd score 29, 30 today I'd be happy," said Auffant. "To come over here and do this, in a tough place to play ...; especially making a statement defensively. That was awesome. They've been scoring a lot of points."

Players spent part of the two-hour bus ride watching the ESPN documentary "Boys of Fall," based on the Kenny Chesney song. One of the film's themes? Make the most of the time you have left.

"It's a reality check for us," said Cronan, a senior. "We only have, max, three games left. We want to get the most of what we still have here."

"This was a must win. This was a playoff game for us," said Cutting. "We needed a win. ...; We started a thing this week saying, 'This is Round 1. We have four rounds and it ends with the state championship.'"

Alerts

Advertise

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
seacoastonline.com ~ 111 New Hampshire Ave., Portsmouth, NH 03801 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service